Alex White

Alex’s blog about strategy, campaigning, growth, politics and climate (among other things).

  • Get involved in politics to make a change

    Following from my recent criticisms of those who sit on the sidelines and complain, rather than joining in and getting their hands dirty, I’ve tracked down the Maribyrnong Leader article I featured in: A FOOTSCRAY man is determined to shift people’s perceptions on climate change. Alex White says his commitment to the issue has been… Read more

  • Letter in Crikey

    My letter in Crikey today Regarding “Make the World Pay“: I’ve noticed it is fashionable for Crikey to publish CPRS-bashing articles from the Greens Party and others (e.g. Bernard Keane). There is no doubt that the CPRS is less than many people hoped it would be — especially the excessive industry assistance. The simple fact… Read more

  • Labor won’t go to a double dissolution election

    There is a lot of talk all over the place about Rudd going to an early double-dissolution election. Many otherwise well informed people I’ve met (engineers, accountants, academics, and so on) believe that a double-dissolution is both likely, easy and in Labor’s favour – even Larvatus Prodeo goes on about it. Antony Green has categorical… Read more

  • Using Facebook as an organising tool

    Facebook, like Twitter, is one of those social networking tools that unions are struggling to figure out. It is the most used social networking tool on earth, and an increasing number of Baby Boomers are starting to use it, expanding out of the younger 16-30 year old demographic. I have experimented with using Facebook as… Read more

  • Seven ways for unions to use Twitter

    Twitter is definitely one of the new cool things on the Internet – the epitome of “Web 2.0”. Unions have traditionally been slow in their uptake of new technology. A quick survey of many union websites show that they are seriously out of date (technology wise, if not their content). Many union leaders and officials… Read more

  • Fifteen Years of Cooling

    Surely I’ve already put a link to this famous graph, which answers the proposition put by climate change denialists that there has been a decade (or fifteen years of cooling). Australia’s most famous climate denialist is Senator Steve Fielding, an accidental senator who’s been briefed by several denialist-scientists that anthropogenic climate change is a fraud.… Read more

  • Letters in The Age

    I’m always pleasantly surprised when one of my letters gets in The Age, as it did the other day without me knowing. Clearly I don’t support league tables for schools. Read more

  • A decade of cooling?

    Steven Fielding of Family First fame was on Insiders this week stating that he had been presented with evidence in Washington that the globe had been cooling over the last few years. This is one of the common tropes that the Andrew Bolts and other climate change denialists use to argue that there is no… Read more

  • Online social activism and Twitter

    A large part of my job is online communications: blogs, social networking, and new fads like Twitter. A big challenge is how to use these tools in a meaningful way to support the campaigning and organising activities of the union. How can we engage our members and supporters using the social networking tools they are… Read more

  • Labor must assert its economic credentials

    Labor must assert its economic credentials

    The recent spate of reporting of polls demonstrates that Labor must continue to assert its strong nation building narrative and economic credentials. Labor and Kevin Rudd correctly judged the public’s mood by decrying the excesses of extreme capitalism and neoliberalism, and forging a renewed social-democratic path. Despite the baying of the press gallery and conservative… Read more

  • We need to get to less than 350ppm

    A short video from 350.org, illustrating why we need urgent action on climate change. https://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4037871&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1 350.org: Because the world needs to know from 350.org on Vimeo. Read more

  • Republicans struggling, near bottom

    I have previously written that the US Republicans are cannibalising themselves, that they are struggling to find a leader, and that they have no clear strategy for combating Obama and the Democrat machine. Now, with the Democrats hammering the Republicans over Rush Limbaugh, some Republican representatives are acknowledging that they nearly as low as they… Read more

  • QLD Liberal National Party plagiarise

    Unfortunately, the main stream media, and even large blogs following the Queensland Election have not covered this scandal. The LNP – the merged Liberal and National Parties in Queensland – have been caught out in a revolting deception and plagiarism case. As you can see, the LNP has copied wholesale the ACTU’s Your Rights At… Read more

  • Corporate welfare should come with strings

    Businesses receiving government corporate welfare should be required to follow industrial relations and OHS laws, and should put caps on executive and board payouts. There is a clear national interest. Governments (state and Federal) gives tax concessions and other support to many different kinds of business, in order to create jobs and ensure economic growth.… Read more

  • Willful ignorance or straw man

    Alex Robson from Concept Economics has not bothered to read the Australia Institute paper into the CPRS emissions floor (pdf link). Amazingly, his uninformed and un-researched tirade against environmentalists was published in The Australian today. Mr Robson writes: Clearly, if the number of permits in circulation could never fall, then the Australia Institute view would… Read more

  • Sharan Burrow on the Global Financial Crisis

    Sharan Burrow is the president of the ACTU, and recently talked at a forum at Trades Hall with Senator Kim Carr on the global financial crisis. This video shows her talking about the GFC at the International Trade Union Confederation. https://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3004267&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=95122B&fullscreen=1Union Views: Sharan Burrow, ITUC President (ACTU Australia) from ITUC on Vimeo. Read more

  • Joe Trippi on Online Campaigning

    Joe Trippi is widely regarded as the “inventor of online campaigning”. As campaign manager for Howard Dean, and author of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised“, he is visiting Australia and was at Melbourne University tonight. His talk, about the importance of social networks and interactive campaignings, especially during US Presidential elections, focused on the… Read more

  • Doug Cameron on Parliamentary Lobbying

    An insightful video of Senator Doug Cameron on lobbying Parliament in Australia. Doug gave this talk at a forum organised by the NTEU Victorian Division at the end of February. He kindly agreed to talk to a camera afterwards. Read more